Apparatus foe constructing cisterns



' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. 2

ORLANDO OWEN, OF BURLINGTON, VERMONT.

APPARATUS FOR CONSTRUCTIN'G CISTERNS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 4,798, dated October 7, 1846.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ORLANDO OWEN, ofBurlington, in the county of Chittenden and State of Vermont, haveinvented a new and useful machine, which I denominate the mtary curve,to be employedin constructing water-cisterns, and that the following isa full, clear, and exact description of the principle or characterthereof which distinguishes it from all other things before known, andof the manner of making, constructing, and using the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawing, making part of thisspecification, which gives a vertical elevation of the machine within acistern, one-half of which is supposed to be removed.

The usual mode of building cisterns is to form an inner and outer curveor mold of wood (the outer one extending only to the top for thecylindrical part of the cistern) with the space between equal to thethickness of the wall which is formed by pouring in small stones andhydraulic cement until it reaches the top of the outer curve, it is thencarried for a short distance on the top of the inner curve to narrow theopening, and the whole suffered to dry, which necessarily takes muchtime, as the curves exclude the air, and the cement dries very slowly;but when it is dry the inner curve can only be removed by breaking it topieces. The object of my invention is to avoid this inconvenience, andto save much of the time required for drying the wall; and this I effectby means of a segment curve attached to one end of an arm connected witha central standard in such manner that it can be moved around thestandard, and carried up and down, and inclined to form the top the armbeing made in two parts that slide on each other to adapt the segmentcurve first to enable the operator to trim the hole in the earth to therequired diameter for the outside of the cistern, and then to the innerdiameter thereof. The two parts of the armslide on each other and can besecured at any desired point by means of a set screw, and it isconnected with the central standard by means of a ferrule to which it isjointed, which ferrule can be held at any desired elevation by a pinpassing through holes in the standard; and for the purpose of giving thearm any desired inclination, it is mortised and plays on a sectorattached to the upper part of the fer rule and provided with holes and apin.

In the accompanying drawings (a) represents a standard pointed at thelower end so that it can be driven in the earth at the bot-tom of thehole in which the cistern is to be built, and provided with a cross bar(7)) at top ends of which are secured to the surface of the earth bymeans of pins (0, 0). On this standard there is a ferrule '(d) thatslides and turns on it freely, and held at any elevation by means of apin (6). To the lower part of this ferrule is jointed an arm made in twoparts f, f) the one (f), having loops in which the other part (f) slidesso that it can be secured and held in place by means of a set screw (9).And to the outer extremity of the part (f) is attached the segment curve(it) made of wood faced with metal, the extent ofits surface isarbitrary. To the upper end of the ferrule is attached a metallic sector(i) which passes through a mortise in the part (f) of the arm so that itcan be held in any desired inclination by a pin (Z) that passes througha hole in the arm and sector.

The method of operating with this apparatus is as follows: A hole is dugin the earth of the required depth and nearly the required diameter; thestandard is then driven down in the center thereof and in a verticalposition and there held by the bar (6) secured to the earth by pins. Thesegment curve is then set to the required diameter for the outside ofthe cistern, and the hole trimmed to it all around and from top tobottom. The curve is then set to the inner diameter of the intendedcistern, and

at the bottom, and the stones and cement poured in between it and theearth, and when set, the curve is moved around through a distance equalto its length, that is filled up, and so on to the end of the circuit.The curve is then raised and the pin in the standard put in one holehigher up, and the same operation carried on until the top of thecylindrical part of the cistern is reached. The ferrule is then let downa little and the arm inclined for the purpose of turning the curved topto narrow in the aperture of the cistern-the only difference betweenthis part of the operation and that already described consisting in theletting down the ferrule as the segment is elevated, to form the archedtop. When all is completed the pin that 10 with the arm, ferrule, andstandard for the purpose and in the manner substantially as described,and these thus combined, also in combination With the sector for formingthe arched top of the cistern, substantially as described.

ORLANDO OWEN.

Witnesses I LUCIUS E. GHITTENDEN, WYLENS LYMAN.

